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4 Environmental Analysis 4.15 Transportation development of multimodal transportation networks. Based on these CEQA criteria, the Project would have a less than significant impact for VMT during construction. The operations VMT is considerably less than that of the construction VMT. During operations, there would be no daily workers commuting to or from the Project site. Though only one or two workers would be anticipated to visit the site each week, for modeling purposes a conservative estimate of the VMT for operations would assume two workers from the city of Oakland every week, which is a maximum of 4,857 VMT per year during operations. This rate would be typical throughout the operational life of the facility. There would likely be occasional larger repair operations, but these would be infrequent and of short durations. Given the short duration and infrequency of the repairs, these occurrences would add so few VMT that it is not a meaningful inclusion in the analysis. Over the next 20 years, the total VMT for operations is likely less than 97,136 miles and the Project would have a less than significant impact for VMT during operations. Reduction of GHG Emissions The Project is a battery energy storage system facility and the chief aim of constructing such facilities is to increase local energy storage capacity. This Project would support the state policies necessary to meet the California renewable energy standards. California has proceeded to advance energy storage uses to support the grid, including the passage of Assembly Bill 2514, as well as the resulting CPUC decision for energy procurement targets for each of the investor- owned utilities. The proposed Project would address the limitations of the electrical grid by the increasing demand for renewable energy. Layering energy storage systems into the energy grid improves grid reliability and makes it more resilient to disturbances and peaks in energy demand. The Project and other energy storage systems are used to supply power during brief disturbances, reduce outages and associated impacts to the community, and substitute for certain large footprint transmission and disruption upgrades. Additionally, the Applicant conducted an Air Quality and Greenhouse Gas Technical Report for San Joaquin County, which concluded a "less than significant impact" for both construction and operations emissions (see Appendix D). The GHG technical report identified a quantitative threshold of significance for GHG emissions. The analysis included in that report accounted for construction traffic emissions to determine the total emissions for the Project. Using this definitive quantitative metric yielded a "less than significant impact." Based on this conclusion, a threshold value for VMT would likely be much higher than the Project-generated VMT. This assertion is in line with the fact that the guidance for conducting VMT analysis originated with GHG emissions reduction regulations and goals, and the guidance states "OPR recommends using quantitative VMT thresholds linked to GHG reduction targets when methods exist to do so." Diversity of Land Use Diversity of land use is a more difficult criteria to quantify for a comparative analysis. According to CEQA (2018), State law concerning the development of multimodal transportation networks and diversity of land uses requires planning for and prioritizing increases in complete streets and infill development but does not mandate a particular depth of implementation that could translate into a particular threshold of significance. Griffith Energy Storage Project 4.15-16 Tetra Tech/SCH 2022120675 Draft Environmental Impact Report August 2023